Oh no here given your name that might be tough?
Liberty I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to think I was interfering. I don't know what you've been told. And as I've learnt amount expressed is not always indicative of supply so midwives look at nappy output and weight gain. I'm sure you know this. I got frustrated because the amount I expressed was also looked at but found this confusing as I kept been told it wasn't always a reflection of supply but....
My baby had tongue tie treated twice. Once when we left hospital - brill. And again when we got home because a remnant was left, or so we think. Weight dropped dramatically then was slow to go bk on.
Feeding plan involved giving top ups of EBF. At first like I say I naively gave whay I pumped (barely 5mls) after 10 mins of pumping after she had been on the boob (I say "aftwr she had been on the boob" rather than each "feed" because there wasn't a definite feed at this stage).
Then I was told to pump more (try 30 mins after a feed) I did this but without regularity.
Then I had a feeding plan in place -whilst I was waiting for second TT release- to give 30ml top ups after each feed and express after each feed. Again, I ended up expressing each time she had been on the boob for 30 mins or longer. I was using a hospital grade pump and pumped religiously round the clock and started raking fenugreek. It was a struggle to get 10ml then 20ml then 30ml then 50ml but gradually I watched this increase until I started overfilling one of the 10ml bottles.
I never felt it was dripping off me or that I could easily overfill a bottle like friends said they could but it was nice to see it coming off.
I dropped the top ups as weight gain was good but then it started to tail off to I was told to increase them again. I was skeptical about this and to be honest I only gave hem frequently and only during the day. However I knew she was being weighed again shortly so I could afford to follow my initiative.
At the TT clinic u was told to look at weight gain as an average over the two weeks not just at the small amount of time between rapid weight gain and smaller gains. The average weight gain over a for night was the same. Relief.
At this stage we had TT done again. I was told I could reduce pumping but I was attached to it. I didn't know how. I hadn't left the house for 3 wks. My hands were always full of baby, boob and pump. It was honestly one of the hardest things I had to do. Pumping round the clock. With midwives saying "do breast comprwssion/are you eating and drinking/try a double pump" I found it hard because ei always had baby in one hand pump in the other. At times I became task focused and realised that baby feeding was the most important thing (instead of getting frustrated thst I couldn't pump)
I did, however drop to 3-4 pimps a day and stopped pumping overnight. At first it was important to pump overnight. I was told more hormones are released at this time.
I dropped the top ups at this point and weight gain was good.
I was still pumping.
Eventually discharged from midwife and hv took over. I was still pumping but only once a day for my own peace of mind. Still taking fenugreek.
I have a good store of BF milk in the freezer. Since.last week I've ran out of storage containers so I haven't pumped and weighed gain has been great. Think its due to everything I did.
I don't want my scenario to influence what you've been told which is why I didn't volunteer info. I didn't want you to think k I was telling g you what to do.
But. I hope it might give you hope.
PS sorry for taking a while to reply. Baby was asleep so I was too.
Now at approaching 8 weeks I'm led by her. During all of thay I was setting alarm to feed every 2.5/3 hours.